Typographical distributing machine



D. S. KENNEDY; TYPOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTING MACHINE.

APPILICATION FILED NOV. I6, I92].

Patented Oct. 10

III.

III! IHII Patented ct. 10, 1922.

DAVID S. KENNEDY, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO MERGENTHALER LING- TYPE COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

TYPOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTING MACHINE.

Application filed November 16, 1921. Serial No. 515,455.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, DAVID S. KENNEDY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Brooklyn, in the (ounty of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Typographical Distributing Machines, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawing.

This invention relates to typographical machines, such as linotype machines of the general organization represented in U. S. Letters Patent to O. Merganthaler No. 436,532, wherein circulating matrices are .released from a magazine in the order in which their characters are to appear in print and then assembled in line, the composed line transferred to the face of a mold, the mold filled with molten metal to form a slug or linotype against the matrices which produce the type characters thereon, and the matrices thereafter returned by a distributor to the magazine from which they started.

In these machines, the matrices are conducted from the distributor to the maga zine through a so-called magazine entrance, which. latter is pivotally mounted so that it may be swung to and from operative position at will. hen the entrance is swung open, it sometimes happens that undistributed matrices will drop therefrom and enter the magazine in an incorrect position, that is to say, flatwise or with one of their lateral edges foremost. These matrices of course form an imobstruction within the magazine and must be removed, involving a considerable loss of time and frequently resulting in a disarrangement of other matrices.

To avoid such evils, it has been proposed to provide the magazine with a series of guard pins or stops arranged between the paths transversed by matrices in adjacent columns and which act to prevent the entrance of matrices into the magazine except when they occupy their proper positions, see for example the Mercer Patent No. 790,447 and the Muehleisen Patent No.-

1,084,224. These prior devices, although generally satisfactory. for the purpose stated, are not capable of universal application. F or-example, in certain of the more modern machines, the matrices are provided with guilding ears located in different setwise positions throughout a font, unlike the or dinary matrices which have their guiding ears located in a common setwise position. It is apparent therefore that, when it is desired to employ the same magazine for both kinds of matrices, the guard pins or stops must be omitted, because the paths traversed by the matrices in the two cases are necessarily different. The same difficulty arises in other cases, even when the matrix guiding ears are located in a common setwise position, as for instance when the matrices are shifted about or transposed in the magazine channels, which is frequently done for various reasons.

The present invention intended to obviate all of the foregoing objections and contemplates a guard member which will serve to prevent the improper entrance of matrices into the magazine quite irrespective of their form or arrangement. The exact manner in which this result is accomplished will be best understood from the detailed description to follow.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. l is a vertical section, taken through the upper portion of a lino'type machine equipped with the present invention; and

Fig. 2 is a section taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrow.

The magazine A, magazine entrance B and distributor C are of the usual. construction and cooperate in the customary way, it being well understood that the matrices X, as they are released from the distributor, drop into the appropriate channels of the magazine entrance and pass therefrom into the corresponding channels of the magazine. In the present em bodiment (which is illustrative of the regular single-magazine machine), the maga-- zine A is removably supported upon the base frame A while the magazine entrance B is carried by the swinging frame B which latter is pivotedto the base frame A as at B so that it may be moved to and from operative position at will.

As before stated, the present invention provides a guard member which is intended to prevent the improper entrance of matrices into the upper end of the magazine when the magazine entrance is opened. As herein illustrated, the guard member is in the form of a plate D extending from one edge of the magazine to the other and slidably connected to the base frame A by pin and slot devices D which latter permit the plate to be raised and lowered with reference to the magazine. In its lowered or inactive position, as shown by the full lines in the drawing, the plate stands below the bottom side of the magazine and hence permits the matrices to pass freely from the magazine entrance into the magazine, as required. On the other hand, when the plate occupies its raised or active position, as shown by the dotted lines in the drawing, it stands across the open end of the magazine and necessarily prevents the entrance of any matrices thereinto. The position of the guard plate is controlled automatically by that of the magazine entrance, that is to say, when the entrance is closed, the plate is held in its lowered or inactive position, whereas when the entrance is opened, the plate is shifted to its raised or active position. As a convenient means of effecting these results, there is employed a three-armed lever E pivotally attached by a stud or pin E to the base frame A and having one of its arms connected to the plate D through a link E this link and the lever arm together constituting a toggle which, when straightened, shifts the guard plate across the magazine and which, when collapsed, shifts the plate to one side of the magazine. A spring E attached at one end to the base frame A and at its opposite end to a second arm of the lever E, tends constantly to straighten the toggle, but this action of the spring is normally resisted and overcome by a detent E carried by the entrance frame B and engaged with a pin E projecting rearwardly from the third arm of the lever E.

The action of the parts will now be clear: In the normal closed position of the magazine entrance B,'the detent E engages the pin E and, against the opposition of the spring E holds the guard plate D in its lowered or inactive position, as required. When, however, the entrance is swung open, as shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 1. the detent E* is disengaged from the pin E and releases the spring E which immediately straightens the toggle and shifts the guard plate to its active position. In this connection, it is pointed out that the disengagement of the detent takes place during the initial opening movement of the magazine entrance, so that the guard plate is allowed to assume its active position promptly and in time to arrest any matrices which may fall from. the entrance channels. In restoring the magazine entrance to its closed position, the detent E engages or re-engages the pin E and turns the lever E about its pivot E against the action of the spring E drawing the guard plate down to its inactive positlon and holding it there until the entrance is again opened. In this way, the proper functioning of the guard plate is insured at all times.

When the guard member D is shifted across the magazine, a matrix may at that time be protruding from the end thereof. In suchevent, the guard plate will simply yield, as permitted by the spring E and no damage will result on the contrary, the ofto the swinging frame B and shifted across the lower end of the magazine entrance as the latter is opened. In applying the invention to multiple magazine machines, and particularly to those employing a plurality of shiftable magazines, the guard member would of course be attached directly to the machine frame, as in such machines the magazine base frames are moved upwardly and downwardly therein during the interchange of magazines.

It is admittedly old to provide magazines at their upper ends with closure plates which may be controlled manually or automatically. However, these plates are of necessity attached directly to the magazines, being employed essentially for the purpose of preventing the matrices from escaping from the magazines either when the latter are removed from the machine or when they are moved from an operative position in the machine. The guard member contemplated by the present invention, as has been seen, is intended to subserve an entirely different'purpose, which involves essentially the mounting of the guard member independently of the magazine.

Having thus described my invention, its construction and mode of operation, what I claim is as follows:

1. In a typographical distributing machine. the combination with a magazine, a distributor, and an'intermediate magazine entrance for conducting matrices from the latter to theformer, the said entrance being movable at will to and from operative position, of a guard. member for preventing the improper entrance of matrices into the magazine, the said member being mounted independently of the magazineand normally located out of the matrix path, and automatic means for shifting the guard member into the matrix path when the magazine entrance is moved from operative position.

2. In a typographical distributing machine, the combination with a magazine, a distributor, and an intermediate magazine entrance for conducting matrices from the latter to the former, the said entrance being movable will to and from operative position, of a guard member for preventing the improper entrance of matrices into the magazine and mounted independently of said magazine, and automatic means for shifting the guard member into and out of the matrix path as the magazine entrance is moved from and to operative position, respectively.

3. In a typographical distributing machine, the combination with a magazine. a distributor, and an intermediate magazine entrance for conducting matrices from the latter to the former, the said entrance being movable at will to and from operative posi tion, of a guard member mounted independently of the magazine and arranged to be shifted across its upper end, and automatic means for effecting such shifting of the guard member when the magazine entrance is moved from its operative position.

i. In a typographical distributing machine, the combination wit-h a magazine, a distributor, and an intermediate magazine entrance for conducting matrices from the latter to the former, the said entrance being movable at will to and from operative position, of a guard member mounted independently of the magazine and movable across or to one side of its upper end, and means actuated by the movement of the magazine entrance for shifting the guard member in the required manner.

5. In a typographical distributing machine, the combination with a magazine, a distributor, and an intermediate magazine entrance for conducting matrices from the latter to the former, the said entrance being movable at will to and from operative position, of a guard member mounted independently of the magazine and shiftable across or to one side of its upper end, and means actuated by the movement of the magazine entrance for shifting the guard member in the required manner, the said means comprising the three-armed lever E having one arm connected to the guard member by the link E the spring E attached to a second arm of said lever, and the detent E carried by the magazine entrance and ar ranged to cooperate with the pin E on a third arm of said lever.

6. In a typographical distributing ma chine, the combination with a magazine, a distributor, and an intermediate magazine entrance for conducting matrices from the latter to the former, the said entrance being movable at will to and from operative position, of a guard member mounted independently of the magazine and shiftable across or to one side of its upper end, a spring for shifting the guard member across the magazine, and devices actuated by the move ment of the magazine entrance to operative position for shifting the guard member to one side of the magazine against the opposition of said spring.

7. In a typographical distributing machine, the combination with a magazine, a distributor, and an intermediate magazine entrance for conducting matrices from the latter to the former, the said entrance being movable at will to and from operative position, of a guard member for preventing the improper entrance of matrices into the magazine, the said member being mounted independently of the magazine and shiftable into and out of the matrix path, springactuated devices for shifting the. guard memher into the matrix path, and a detent serving to hold the guard member out of the matrix path against the action of the spring actuated devices, the said detent being arranged to be disengaged by the movement of the entrance from its operative position.

8. In a typographical distributing machine, the combination with a magazine, a distributor, and an inteimediate magazine entrance for conducting matrices from the latter to the former, the said entrance being movable at will to and "from operative position, of a guard member mounted inde pendently of both the magazine and the magazine entrance and shiftable across or to one side of the upper end of the magazine, spring-actuated devices for shifting the guard member across the magazine, and a detent carried by the magazine entrance to permit or overcome the action of the springactuated devices according .to the position of said magazine entrance.

In testimony whereof, I have afiixed my signature hereto.

DAVID S. KENNEDY. 

